To all the readers, hello!

I am a student ambassador for Politics, Media, and Communication program at Masaryk University. Since this is my very first blog as a student ambassador, I would like to introduce myself and tell you the story of how a girl from Japan ended up studying in Brno, Czech Republic.

I am Yumi Grace Okereke, and I am currently 21 years old. Some of you might notice that my name does not sound like a typical Japanese name. Actually, my mother is from Japan, and my father is from Nigeria. Although I was born and raised in Japan, I have been living a privileged life to experience two cultures! I did not grow up watching anime; instead, I watched shows on Cartoon Network or Disney channel:) Likewise, I have used both Japanese and English by mixing vocabulary from the two languages at home too. (My Japanese is way better, though.) Naturally, I started dreaming of a stereotypical American girl’s life that is often portrayed in the movies; being a cheerleader, having a boyfriend from the American football team, and going to a prom wearing an amazing dress with a limousine. That’s the very first point of me wanting to learn English and study abroad.

So my main focus was improving my English. I chose the most international public high school in my prefecture to get closer to my goal. It was 90 minutes away from my home, but I was able to study what I wanted and took several classes in English too. But at the time I graduated from high school, my dream destination was shifted from the US to anywhere but the country, with only a few Japanese studies and a major in political science. I still don’t know how my mind was changed like that, but 18 years old me wanted to explore somewhere new and have special experiences. So I chose to go to university in Bangkok, Thailand. I did so because of my trip to Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam in my final year of high school, and also one of my high school projects was about refugees in Asia. But, my interest shifted to the education field in the middle of the first semester after seeing unequal educational opportunities for the children in the country. I started looking for another major that matched my interest in other countries that I had never been to, and BOOM! That’s how I found Masaryk University.

Masaryk University seemed a great option since it has a unique and international environment created by each student from different background as well as the academic reputation. I also loved how Brno is called a “student city.” After seeing takeovers by the students on Instagram, I was so ready to jump into the whole new environment. So I came to Brno in October 2021. I still remember I had no idea how to get to Brno after arriving at Vienna airport and almost burst into tears…I studied at the Faculty of Education for two semesters, but in the first semester of studying education, I realized how much I liked studying political science very much and decided to come back to the social studies field. So far, it may sound like I just do whatever things I feel like I want to, but changing my major was the most difficult decision, especially for this second time. It was not a part of my plan at all, and I kept thinking that restarting my study from the beginning was really worth it. Honestly, it was also scary to think about what would happen if this major did not match my interest again. But there’s one thing that I was sure about. It was I didn’t change the university and leave Brno since I love my life here so much.

Then I found out about the new program, Politics, Media, and Communication. Before the Autumn semester of 2022, there was only one program offered by the faculty of social studies. So I also liked the idea of becoming the first alumni of the program when I finish my study on time. The study plan of the program was interesting, and the skills that I would get from the classes will definitely be useful in my dream job. Studying these three fields at the same time sounded amazing to me as well. So I went through the application process, and now I am about to start the second semester in the program. As the name of the program says, there is a variety of options for the class, and it provides an opportunity to learn how these three broad fields are intertwined by applying them to real-life topical events. The classes I took in the first semester were really fascinating. Especially populist political communication class and French class were my favorites. I was not familiar with the concept of populism at all in the first week, but a bunch of new concepts from the readings, and the discussions in the lectures with the enthusiastic professor and students, were definitely something I looked forward to every week. Besides, French class was so fun and relaxing in a way since all my classes were more academic content about politics and media. I cannot say that I speak French yet, but I am already excited for the class the next semester as well. I like how my program also lets students take interesting classes related to the major, as well as the interactive language class.

After my first semester, I don’t regret my decision to change my major and choose this program at all. In fact, I am very happy that I finally got to figure out and study what I really wanted to learn. It is exciting to see this new program growing and have more and more international students in the classes. Also, as the major is interdisciplinary, I like how it does not limit a chance to seek various job opportunities or possibly degree programs for my master's. I highly recommend anyone who has an interest in any of the fields of politics, media, communication (or all of them), and current events in the world; this is definitely the program for you. If you also want to keep the options wide open for your future jobs, this is for you as well. And lastly, if you want to change major but too are afraid to do so, this is definitely your sign too:))